A Measure of Disorder

A Measure of Disorder

Darcey Bella Arnold

Darcey Bella Arnold’s A Measure of Disorder brings together a series of works on paper produced between 2022 and 2024. Presented in a 120-page limited edition (250) 30 x 30cm, full-colour on high quality paper in section sewn hardback format, the publication documents a body of drawing-based works that extend Arnold’s ongoing inquiry into language, visual structure, and the disruptions embedded within systems of order. The cover is embossed with black foil printing and hand drawn lines in pencil by Arnold, making each copy unique.

The book includes essays by curator Tim Riley Walsh and artist and curator Brooke Babington. These essays were originally developed in response to Arnold’s two-part exhibition series A Measure of Disorder, held at Gertrude Glasshouse (2022) and ReadingRoom (2023), both in Naarm/Melbourne. Babington’s essay Disordering Measures and Riley Walsh’s If a canvas is feeling and a page is thought situate Arnold’s work within broader conversations around feminist approaches to materiality, language, and repetition.

Designed by Yanni Florence the publication maintains a focus on the material and formal qualities of the work. The drawings—reproduced at scale and in colour—are presented with attention to their spatial and conceptual detail.

120 pages, hardcover, 30 x 30 cm

Text: Brooke Babington and Tim Riley Walsh

Editor: Abbra Kotlarczyk

Design: Yanni Florence

The cover is embossed with black foil printing, and hand drawn lines in pencil by Darcey Bella Arnold

Photographs: André Piguet

Image post-production: Peter Hatzipavlis 

Year: 2025

Edition: 250

ISBN: 978-0-6456905-0-7